Regular readers of this blog know that I’ve been working with the local C.O.O.P. (Chickens On Our Property) group for almost a year to get the Johnson City code amended to allow residents to have a flock of backyard hens. Our specific request includes: no more than 6 hens, no roosters at all, with a small registration fee. Our City Council is meeting tomorrow evening (Thursday, May 17th) at 6 PM in the Municipal and Safety Building, located at 601 E Main St, across the street from the post office.Our group needs all the support we can get and City Council has commented that they’re NOTICING all the filled seats in the room when COOP is on the agenda. Please, try to come to this important meeting. It is the first of 3 public hearings that will each require a majority vote of 3 in our favor. Our past experience has been that we’re usually late in the agenda, so if you can’t make it by 6 PM, don’t feel you ”missed it”.

To survive and thrive in turbulent times we will need to organize ourselves at the grassroots level to carry out a series of transitions-not only in terms of food and farming, but also in transportation, health, housing and education. While remaining engaged in pressing governments and businesses to green and revitalize the economy and stabilize the climate we must ‘dig in’ and prepare ourselves locally and regionally to become as self-reliant as possible. Having a small flock of urban hens is a small, but GIANT step in that direction!Keep in mind that as Johnson City continues the process of annexing land that is currently part of the neighboring community of Gray, this is an opportunity to make sure that those residents too will be able to continue to keep a few hens. (Yeah, I know they’ll be grandfathered in if the area is annexed, but what if YOU want to move to Gray? You wouldn’t have that option. Just sayin’) Let your voices be heard! From Sam, who is climbing off her soapbox now…